The global economy remains in a volatile state amid the prolonged effects of the combined negative shocks of the pandemic, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, high inflation, and the tightening monetary policy. Although the global economy remained resilient at the beginning of the year, the situation is expected to worsen.

In June 2023, the National Statistics Office of Georgia issued its annual publication on the agricultural sector – Agriculture of Georgia 2022. The publication estimates that agriculture, forestry, and fishing comprised 7.5% of the GDP (constant prices) in 2022, which is lower than the 8% share in 2021, but in line with general trends over the last few years (agricultural GDP being 7-8% of GDP on average).

In June 2023, the average cost of cooking one standard portion of Imeretian khachapuri stood at 5.62 GEL. It is now the fourth consecutive month that the Index has maintained a declining trend, where the price of khachapuri fell by 2.4% (compared to May 2023).

In the third and fourth quarters of 2022, Georgian power plants generated 4,193 mln. and 3,359 mln. kWh of electricity, respectively (Figure 1). This represents a +11.4% and -3.5% change in total generation compared to the corresponding periods of the previous year (in 2021, the total generation in Q3 was 3,766 mln. kWh and 3,479 mln. kWh in Q4).

No major shifts in overall May CCI. The Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) decreased marginally from -24 in April to -24.1 in May, largely maintaining the new level it had reached in April. The two sub-indices of the CCI each moved in opposite directions: the Present Situation Index declined by 1 index point, while the Expectations Index rose by 0.6 points.